Contributed By: Ana Misenas, Freshman Architecture Student

During the fall semester, we (the freshman studio) developed our projects conceptually. We created space based on the relationship between the occupier and the tectonics of the structure. This (spring) semester, we worked methodically and developed/recreated a space. At first, we investigated the complexity of an architectural space and continued by generating potential designs through numerous techniques. One technique was to target a feeling that we obtained while inside the space in order to  understand how particular features emit a specific feeling.

                                                              Photo By Ana Misenas

“LURID -  [While] exploring, it seemed that the more grotesque and broken it got, it simultaneously became more beautiful and intriguing.” 

We then created the interior space as a solid (as if it were filled with concrete) - Inspired by Rachel Whiteread.

Solid/Void Inversion                                                                         Photos By John Costello

We then inverted the foam positive in plaster, which lead to a multi-part plaster mold.

Using these shapes made from hydrocal, we reconfigured their relationships focusing on the circulation that it possessed and applying light to direct the occupier.

                                                                                                     Photos By Ana Misenas

This exploration of different methods and techniques exposed various features of design and showed how simple but vital qualities of design, such as light and continuity, influence the direction of the occupier as well as the architecture. 

Contributed By: Megan Basnak, M.Arch Student   “The bee is more honored than other animals, not because she labors, but because she labors for others.” This quotation, stated by Saint John Chrysostom during the first century reflects the timeless appreciation that has long been...

Contributed By: Timothy Ung, M.Arch Student   While helping architect Kenneth S. Mackay digitize his hand-drawn project, St. Peter’s Episcopal Church in Buffalo, New York, I was intrigued by the proposal for a cone-shaped window to flood the space with even amounts of light. During...

Contributed By: Courtney Creenan, M.Arch Student   Being in architecture school is all about slaving away at your desk all day and throughout the night, right? Although this might be the norm, the University at Buffalo Architecture Graduate Student Association organized and hosted a...

Contributed By: Allison Adderley, M.Arch Student In conjunction with Faculty Members Christopher Romano and Jean LaMarche Formwork has often been defined as a temporary building element, typically neglected and rarely interpreted by architects as anything more than a byproduct of...

Contributed By: Matthieu Bain and Andrew Perkins  Master of Architecture Thesis   How can the remains of a declining city be harvested and utilized to resuscitate space and sustain life? In October, we purchased a house from the Buffalo Foreclosure auction for $800 and moved...

Contributed By: Courtney Creenan, M.Arch + M.UP Student   Getting inside Buffalo, New York’s grain elevators has been on many a University at Buffalo architecture student’s to-do list.  This past fall, students in the Inclusive Design Research Group were able to not only...

The idea for Architect Barbie emerged out of a 2007 exhibition at the University of Michigan’s Architecture School, curated by Professor Despina Stratigakos, for which students and faculty designed prototypes for the doll as a way to explore and playfully critique stereotypes of...

Contributed by: Robert Garlow, M.Arch Student [ How can a better understanding of a material’s reaction to thermal energy allow us to design an architecture that participates and mediates amidst the presence of bodies and/or environmental stimuli? ] Historically, our attempts to suppress a...

Partition Transformation

Contributed by: Robert Garlow, M.Arch Student Studio Abstract: Vertical Constructions is a graduate studio in the Material Culture Graduate Research Group that explores the design and construction of vertical structures. It concentrates on 3 primary objectives: 1) on the differences between...

Contributed By: Gabrielle Printz   This studio, led by Joyce Hwang, asked first year graduate students to consider the collection conceptually, spatially, and in relation to a culture of excess. Walter Benjamin describes the process of assembling the material collection in his...

Contributed By: Scott Archambault The Material Culture research group explores the relationship of people, materials, and ideas and their manifestation into the artifact of the built environment.  The idea of Material Culture is that every material has a culture that inevitably...

This past fall semester, 13 students embarked on an explorative journey in the world of furniture design and construction with Materials and Methods Shop Director Dick Yencer and his assistant Wade Georgi.  Throughout the semester, students were instructed on how to properly use various...